The Masque
by lilkawa
Summary: While working undercover Lucas North runs into an old friend
1. Chapter 1

_Spooks_ and _Robin Hood_ don't belong to me

**The Masque**

Lucas North entered the room behind Ros Myers and smiled thinly to himself. He didn't like Meynell but he had to admit that the man had taste. They were currently undercover trying to stop Meynell from bringing the UK economy to its knees. Ros was the inside man working at Meynell's firm while Lucas was posing as her fiancé. When Meynell had invited him to his charity fundraiser earlier in the day Lucas had thought it would be the usual cocktail and talk about the work he was doing but a not masked ball.

The theme of the masquerade was Robin Hood and Meynell was dressed as the legendary do-gooder; there were scatterings of Muches, Alan A'Dales, Sheriffs of Nottingham, King Richards, Prince Johns and Friar Tucks; the women's pickings weren't some many so it seemed as those every woman was dressed as Maid Marian. Not surprisingly, Ros had managed to stand out Isabella, and Lucas was one of two Guys of Gisborne.

"Give me one minute alone with him," Ros told Lucas, and walked towards Meynell as he left the podium to rejoin his guests. Lucas gave them a few minutes and then he joined them.

"Pete," Meynell greeted Lucas. "I'm glad you could make it."

Lucas smiled at him. "I would go anywhere for a glass of champagne. I love such events, the city pretending it cares."

"I'm not so sure everyone shares your cynicism, Pete," Ros told him.

"Come on," Lucas eyed Meynell; "this is just one big tax dodge for you, isn't it?"

"Whatever you say, Pete."

Jo, one of the Section D officers posing as a waitress, came up and distracted Meynell giving Lucas a chance to pick his pocket for his office keys. They intended to break into Meynell's computers during the masque.

Lucas followed the Jo to the kitchen to brief Ben, the other operative who was going to access the computer; and that was when he saw her.

She was dressed as Djaq but even through her disguise Lucas knew who she was.

Marian Knighton.

"Lucas North," she told him.

"Marian," he whispered. "What are you doing here?"

"Working same as you," she smiled at him. "I see you haven't changed at all."

"What do you mean?"

Marian laughed. "You're still dressing up as Guy of Gisborne, for one."

"You're a fine one to talk," he replied. "I see you're dressed up as well, as a woman pretending to be a man, no less."

"It is a costume party," she reminded him.

"You know what I mean."

"I sure do," she told him. "Still with the Service? Or have you wisened up?"

"I'm still with MI5," Lucas replied.

"Let me guess, you're after Alexis Meynell."

"Yes." Lucas knew that he shouldn't be so forthcoming with operational details but he had never been able to say no to Marian Knightley. Not even from the first moment they'd met.

Lucas North and Marian Knightley had met in kindergarten. Lucas had been in Miss Phillip's class, Marian in Miss Jensen's. The two teachers had had some sort of longstanding rivalry, with each one trying to best the other. In their last year the two teachers had decided to work together and two classes had had a production of Robin Hood and His Merry Men. Lucas had been given the part of Guy of Gisborne and Marian, Maid Marian.

"Marian, what are you doing here?" Lucas asked her.

"I like champagne," she replied.

"Come on, Marian," Lucas said. "This is not the only party with champagne in London, tonight."

"Can't a girl just wear a costume for fun?"

"Marian."

"Fine," Marian sighed. "I'm going to kill Meynell."

"Why?"

Marian snorted. Typical Lucas, he hadn't bothered to tell her that she couldn't go around killing people.

"Francis Denham."

Lucas nodded wondering why he hadn't put two and two together before now. Francis Denham was her uncle and he had practically raised her after her father's death.

"I can't let you kill him."

"You can't stop me."

"If he dies he'll take the economy down him," Lucas told her. "You have to let us deal with this."

"What are you going to do?"

"Meynell will lose money and this will help us stabilize the economy," Lucas told her.

"And Uncle Frank, what will you do about him?"

"Marian, he killed himself."

"Because of Alexis Meynell."

"I'm sorry," Lucas told her, "really sorry but you can't kill Meynell but I promise you when he loses the money he'll be as good as dead."

"That's not enough."

"I know – "Lucas began but was interrupted by his phone ringing. "Yes, Ben," he said and then he listened in silence.

"I have to go," he told Marian, "there's something I have to check out."

"What?"

"Meynell has partners."

"Who?"

"That's what I'm going to check out."

"I'm coming with you."

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	2. Chapter 2

Thanks for reading and reviewing.

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Lucas and Marian were standing over Ben who was working on Meynell's computer.

"Can't you go any faster?" Marian asked Ben.

"Let the man do his job," Lucas told her. "He knows what he's doing."

"Don't tell me he's a computer whiz of some sort," Marian joked.

"He's a journalist, actually," Lucas told her, "and he's very good at what he does."

"Will you please be silent?" Ben asked them. He was finding it difficult to concentrate with all their bickering.

"Touchy," Marian laughed. "Very touchy. I like him."

As Ben continued typing they heard footsteps coming towards the office. Ben quickly disconnected the external drive he had inserted into the computer and the three of them ducked.

They each stood behind some pillars but luckily Arsil Dolach took only a cursory look around the room and left.

"That was close," Ben said.

"Did you get everything?" Lucas asked him.

Ben nodded.

"Let's get out of here," Marian told them.

The three of them went to the door.

000

Lucas, Marian and Ben were walking through a long corridor.

"I don't remember the building looking like this," Ben said.

"We must have gone out through the wrong door," Marian said. She was sure they hadn't passed through such a corridor to get to Meynell's office. Where were all the windows?

"It's more than that," Lucas said, "This building is made of stone, Meynell's building was glass."

"I don't think we're in the same place we were a few minutes ago," Marian told them.

Lucas opened the nearest door and the three of them filed in. It was a small room with only a bed.

"What is going on?"

"What are we going to do?"

"I'm going out to investigate."

Lucas opened the door and walked out. Three men hurried towards him.

"Sir Guy," one of them called to him; Lucas turned to him and said brusquely, "yes? What is it?" He'd forgotten that he was in costume until the man had addressed him.

"It's the Lady Marian," the man said, "she's missing."

"Really?"

"We only turned away for a minutes," the man said, "I'm very sorry, sir, we'll find her immediately."

Lucas nodded and watched them hurry off to look for Marian. As he looked at them he had an idea, he only hoped that he was doing the right thing. He went back to the room where he'd left Marian and Ben and told them his plan.

"But what if the real Marian shows up?" she asked him.

"You're Marian Knighton," Lucas reminded her.

"I am Marian Knighton," Marian agreed, "but I'm not the Marian they're looking for."

"How can you be sure?" Lucas asked her. "They called me Sir Guy and I'm only wearing a costume."

"Okay," Ben interrupted. "What about me? I'm dressed as a waiter, who am I supposed to be?"

Lucas hadn't really thought about who Ben would be and that stopped him in his tracks. "We need to find some clothes," he told them. "We'll decide when we find the clothes."

They opened the next door and found some men's clothing. Ben tried them and chose one; they couldn't find any feminine clothes and so they went to the next room. It was clearly a woman's room and when Marian tried the clothes on, she found that they fit her perfectly.

Too perfectly, in fact.

They were walking down the corridor trying to blend in when the three guards Lucas had seen earlier hurried towards them.

"You found her, Sir," one of the guards spoke up.

"Indeed," Lucas replied.

The men made to grab Marian but she quickly sidestepped them. "Sir Guy," she told Lucas. "I have a favour to ask."

The men were insistent and would have grabbed her but Lucas raised his hand and stopped them.

"Yes, Marian?"

"I was wondering if was possible for me to have a few hours without these goons following me around," Marian said.

Lucas smiled at her and asked, "Marian what are you doing?"

"What does it look like?" Marian teased him. "I'm flirting with you."

"I don't think we have that sort of relationship," Lucas told her.

Marian flicked her hair and took a quick glimpse at the guards. "They don't seem to mind."

Lucas couldn't help himself, he reached out and touched her, trailing his fingers slowly down her cheek. They smiled at each other.

"Sir Guy," another guard hurried towards them. Lucas dismissed Marian's guards and as he followed the other man, who had come to inform him that the Sheriff was looking for him, he told Marian, "don't leave the Castle."

Marian rejoined Ben who had been hiding behind a pillar and they followed Lucas to the Sheriff's rooms.

They were three men in the room, one an older baldheaded man, and another, clearly a doctor of some sort was putting leeches on a wounded man who was lying on a bed.

The older man smiled at Lucas, "there you are Gisborne; I was beginning to think you'd never get here."

Lucas took in the scene, walking around the room wondering exactly what he was supposed to do.

"As you can see," the Sheriff continued, "Henry of Lewis is still unable to give us the information we need."

"I take it your physician isn't doing his job," Lucas said.

"A clue? No," the Sheriff seemed very exasperated. "You need to find me another healer. Go to the village and get me someone else."

Lucas nodded and walked out of the room. He needed to find out where they were, how they had gotten there and most importantly how to go back home. But first it seemed he was going to find a healer to help Henry of Lewis.

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	3. Chapter 3

**Thanks for reading reviewing.**

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"We need to find Robin Hood."

Marian and Lucas turned to Ben in shock. "You can't be serious," Marian said. "He's a fictitious character."

"So is Guy of Gisborne, and the Lady Marian," Ben said, "yet here we are."

"How are we supposed to find him?" Lucas asked. "It's not like we know what he looks like."

The three of them thought about it for a while.

"I've got it," Ben said excitedly. "According to the legends Robin loved the Maid Marian; since the people here seem to think that she's the one," he gestured at Marian, "then we'll use her."

"I don't know what he looks like," Marian replied.

"But he knows what you look like," Ben said. "He'll approach you."

"But how will Marian be able to tell that he's the one?" Lucas asked. "He won't be wearing his name around his neck."

"Robin Hood helps people, doesn't he?" Ben asked. "I'll pretend to be in trouble and then he'll save me."

"What if he doesn't?" Lucas asked.

"He will," Ben said, "he has to."

"Fine, whatever," Lucas said, "what about this Henry of Lewis, what are we going to do about him?"

000

Robin ducked behind a pillar and watched in amazement as Gisborne, Marian and a stranger walked out of the castle. He had asked, okay sort of ordered Marian, to go to the forest but obviously she hadn't listened.

He thought about it for a moment and then decided to follow them; he needed to stop Henry of Lewis from spilling any secrets about the King and Gisborne probably had information about that. Gisborne would surely know what the Sheriff's next course of action was.

Lucas, Marian and Ben walked to the far end of the market and stopped in a deserted area.

"So, now what?" Lucas asked. "We're out of the castle but we're no closer to finding out who Robin is and how to find him."

"Honestly, Lucas," Marian teased him, "where's your sense of adventure?"

"I was on a mission to stop Meynell," Lucas said, "I certainly didn't sign up for any medieval adventures."

"Yes," Marian agreed, "but you could at least enjoy it, or did Russia take that away from you?"

"Don't talk about Russia," Lucas told her, "you know nothing about what I went through over there."

Marian put up her hands in mock surrender. "I didn't mean to hit a nerve, sorry."

Lucas touched her arm, "I'm sorry too, I didn't mean to take my frustrations out on you. It's just that I'm worried about Ros and Jo, they're out there without any back-up and here, a crazy Sheriff wants me to find a healer to take care of Henry of Lewis."

Ben had been watching them argue in silence but now he spoke, "When we get back home, you guys need to seriously have a talk, get the air cleared or whatever but now let's get back to business."

Robin had been listening in shock and as Guy and Marian argued; the man who looked exactly like Gisborne was called Lucas and he wanted to go back home. Wherever that was.

He approached them cautiously and they all turned to look at him but there wasn't even a glimmer of recognition in either Gisborne's or Marian's eyes. These people whoever they were didn't know him.

"I couldn't help but overhear what you were saying," Robin said.

"Who are you?" Lucas growled at him.

"If you had asked me a few minutes ago," Robin smiled at him, "I would have sworn that you were Guy of Gisborne but you're not are you?"

"Who are you?" Lucas asked him again.

"Robin of Locksley, at your service," Robin said.

"See, I told you he'd find us," Ben said excitedly.

"And you are?" Robin asked them.

"Lucas North," Marian introduced them, "Ben and I'm Marian."

"You look exactly like a friend of mine," Robin told her.

"I know," she smiled.

"So, I couldn't help but overhear," Robin told them, "It seems the Sheriff needs a healer for Henry of Lewis."

"Yes," Lucas agreed. "Can you point me in the direction of one?"

"Of course I can," Robin said. "What exactly is the matter with him?"

"He's not saying much," Lucas replied, "the Sheriff needs some information from him."

"The port at which King Richard will land when he returns to England," Robin told them.

"You're really trying to save England, aren't you?" Ben asked. "Like the legend goes."

Robin would have asked him what legend he was talking about but three guards run up to them. He quickly pulled his cloak to hide his face and stooped.

"Sir Guy," one of them asked. "The Sheriff's looking for you."

"Fine," Lucas told them, "I'm on my way."

000

The four of them walked back into the castle, Robin had insisted on going with them, and made their way towards the Sheriff's chambers.

"The castle is lighter than it was earlier," Ben pointed out, "where's all the stone?"

"I don't know," Lucas agreed, and looked around again, "it seems we're back."

They looked around, Robin was nowhere to be seen; they were standing behind the pillars in Meynell's office.

"That was weird," Marian said.

"Yes it was," Lucas agreed, "like a dream." It had to have been a dream.

000

A few days later, after Meynell had been destroyed and the economy of England saved, Lucas and Marian met up at a café.

"You were right," Marian told him.

"Don't you know, I'm always right," Lucas said. "But what are you talking about now?"

"Meynell," Marian said, "I didn't have to kill him after all."

"I told you so."

"So, what do you think?" Marian asked him, "did we imagine it or was it real?"

"Ben's been asking me that quite a lot as well," Lucas told her, "and honestly I don't know what to think. Were we under the influence of something? Some hallucinogen that induces similar visions, I have no idea."

"Neither do I," Marian said. "But I wonder…"

"About what?"

"Do you think Guy of Gisborne and Marian could ever have a future, back there in the past?"

"Not according to the legend," Lucas said.

"You read the legend?" she was surprised.

"Didn't you?"

"I've read everything that I could get my hands on," Marian confessed. "It didn't seem like there was any future for them, Marian loved Robin."

"Thank God we don't live there then."

"You think we could have a future?"

"We could try," he said.

"Yes," Marian smiled at him, "try, that we can do."

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End file.
